I really need to do a quick update, but I don't wanna. I am sitting at work, thinking and realized that this Christmas was bitter sweet. It's something I knew, but the more I think about it, the less I focus on the "sweet" and the more I focus on the "bitter".
Kyle and I spent Christmas in Las Vegas. It was such a fun time. We got there on the 22nd and by the 24th, Christmas was definitely ruined. Take the time to read and I'll explain.
... My parents have a HUGE back patio, solid concrete. When we moved into that house in 2000, the patio was cracked but the previous owners said it has been like that for awhile so my dad figured it was nothing to worry about. The crack got so bad that it cracked a wall in the house, so it was time to get it fixed. My dad hired someone to fix it and it was being done during the week of Christmas. So we spent two days listening to a jack hammer and wanting to literally pull our hair out. But that is not the tragedy. We have a really old dog. He is our family dog and probably everyone's favorite. We got this dog when I was 8 and we all grew up with him (his name is Ricky). Ricky is dang old now... old old old. He is almost completely deaf and we think he is going blind as well. You know when old people get to that point where they are constantly confused, well that's Ricky. He literally will get himself into a corner (an actual corner, not like a situation) and can not figure out how to get out. In the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas he lost a LOT of weight. He looked completely different. Kyle was in the backyard for awhile and said him and my dad saw Ricky take a few stumbles. It has been really sad to watch. We are all super attached to him, especially my dad. So anyways, Ricky was fixed and never goes to the door when people come, we can leave the door open without worrying about him ever walking out. He is a good dog. All day on Wednesday, Ricky was outside with the workers, just walking around the backyard, just hanging out with "the boys". Then Thursday morning he was out there with him again and next thing we know, he is gone. He wandered away. As soon as we realized he was gone, we immediately went out looking for him. For one thing, he is old and we figured he couldn't get very far and for another, we want him back. Kyle, my mom and I walked around our neighborhood for a good hour or so. The sad thing is it is pointless to call out his name, he can't hear us. But my dad was out looking for probably 5 or 6 hours. It was really sad to watch. He would be gone for about an hour, come home so see if we had found him and then pack up and leave again. Once it started to get dark, my dad went to the animal shelters to see if anyone found him and turned him in, but no one had. I actually saw my dad tear up over it. It was sad and hard to see. I have a few theories...
1. Ricky is a shetland sheepdog (he looks like a miniature Lassie), and his breed comes directly from wolves. My first theory is that he knew he was getting old and was likely to die soon. Wild animals can often sense a nearing death and will leave their pack to die alone. Maybe Ricky knew he was dying and went to be alone.
2. He wandered out of the yard, and got turned around and had no idea where he was so he kept wandering. (this seems more practical at times) Although, in his condition... it doesn't seem likely he could get too far. My dad says he has a collar with a phone number on it.
Either way, I am so nervous about him. If he is still alive, he is probably starving and about to die anyways. It was the worst thing to deal with the day before Christmas... might as well have been a member of the family dying (which in a sense, it was). Unfortunately, Christmas 2009 will always be the year we lost Ricky. We are still praying that we get good news, but it's not looking very good. When Jay left he said "When I come home, I hope Ricky and Grandma are still here", he got to talk to Grandma on Christmas, but how do you tell him Ricky "wandered away" when he is already so far from home and super homesick. Makes for a sucky memory huh?!
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Scary Test
Kyle and I went to see the doctor on Monday for our last "monthly" visit. We will now be seeing him every 2 weeks. Anyways, while we were there, I remembered something I thought was just due to being pregnant, but I wanted to double check. I mentioned to the dr that I was bruising a lot, and I'm not a peach, I don't bruise easily. The doctor didn't come across as being overly concerned but wrote out a lab sheet and told me to go over to the hospital right away and have some blood work done. Kyle didn't seem nervous at all, but I was. Cancer, diabetes and crohn's disease all run in my family. Even where that chick poked me bruised up, worse than ever before... and these aren't those little whimpy green bruises, they are full on black bruises. When we got home I called my mom to talk to her. It really concerned my parents because the truth is, the dr was most likely trying to rule out cancer, but was not going to come right out and say it. The less a patient is informed before anything is certain, the better. So I had been worried for a few days. I asked Kyle what of my stuff he wanted, you know, incase I didn't make it. And his response "I get all of your stuff"... good response. (He tends to think I am slightly over dramatic... nah!)
We got a call a few days ago from the dr that my results came back normal but I needed to keep a close eye on the bruises. I needed to pay more attention to when they come up and if they get more severe , stay longer, or I get an increased number... because we will go back and retest. It was a scary few days for me, but I'm happy everything turned out ok :) I will not be dying anytime soon.
We got a call a few days ago from the dr that my results came back normal but I needed to keep a close eye on the bruises. I needed to pay more attention to when they come up and if they get more severe , stay longer, or I get an increased number... because we will go back and retest. It was a scary few days for me, but I'm happy everything turned out ok :) I will not be dying anytime soon.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Avance Family Pics
Wow, with all these posts, you would think we have a life! But these are the family pictures we did while in Panaca. Although I think the pictures are well taken, my face looks huge and I have a hard time even looking at it! Kyle looks good though!
I don't look too incredibly pregnant in any of these, although at the time I was almost 29 weeks.
Final note... we see the dr later today for our 30 week check up... only 10 more weeks. The next family pictures will hopefully have our little boy in them. And once Jay comes home in May, we can do new LaPratt family pictures with all the changes... Jay will be home, Ethan, Parker, and our little boy will all be there and Nate will not! Hooray!
I don't look too incredibly pregnant in any of these, although at the time I was almost 29 weeks.
Final note... we see the dr later today for our 30 week check up... only 10 more weeks. The next family pictures will hopefully have our little boy in them. And once Jay comes home in May, we can do new LaPratt family pictures with all the changes... Jay will be home, Ethan, Parker, and our little boy will all be there and Nate will not! Hooray!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Pat on my own back...
So I already blogged about Kyle being super smart in his classes, and I don't care about receiving the praise (except from Kyle) but with this semester ending, I feel the need to recap. I took a full load this semester, expecting it to be like any other semester. Oh boy was I wrong. This semester was busy busy busy and seriously kicked my trash (I feel way mormon saying that.. haha) There is one professor at SUU who I seriously used to dread taking classes from. He has been a defense attorney, a prosecutor and a judge... he knows his stuff and he doesn't let people "skid by". So how did I end up taking 2 classes from him? One of the classes was my senior seminar... talk about a waste of time! Seriously! He did a good job but the class focused on immigration, something that I care nothing about. My only real complaint about illegal aliens is that they don't speak English, well it was until my research paper at the end. Professor Admire grades you after each class based on participation. He wants people to speak up and to voice their opinions. What if I don't have one on the particular subject? And how many times do I really need to say "Yeah, but would we have that problem if they spoke the language?" Then we had to write our senior paper. Admire is tough... he doesn't grade lightly. He knows what he is looking for and doesn't settle for less. I turned in my proposal, which was "The cost of illegal immigration on public school systems" and come to find out there is ZERO information out there on that topic. So I changed it to "Illegal aliens receiving In State tuition at U.S. Universities". Oh did that ever change my opinion on immigration. Utah is one of 11 states that allows illegal aliens to receive the BENEFIT of in state tuition as long as they graduated from high school in the state of Utah. What a bunch of crap!!!!! How is it fair that I'm a citizen and paid $6500/semester and they have NO legal status and pay $2200/semester! Well either way, I pretty much aced the paper. It was only 10 pages when it was supposed to be 15-20, but I went in to talk to him about some things and he said not only is it well written but I have a good grip on the topic and extra wording is not needed. Awesome!
My criminal procedure class is the second class I took from Professor Admire. This has been my favorite class of all time! It is pretty much "who does what and why"... I LOVED it. Every day I was like a kid in a candy store, just soaking up useful information. But yet again, it was NOT an easy class. Admire doesn't teach in the "traditional" format... he expects you to read the assigned chapters before coming to class and come to class and know the material and be able to discuss it. we went over specific supreme court cases and how they have shaped and changed the laws into what we know now. I know all sorts of random details about the law now. Admire also doesn't test in a typical format... there is no true/false, multiple choice here. It was more like "here is the situation... so and so did this and the cops did this... argue from the defense attorney's side and the prosecutor's side" It was applying what you had learned and making it work it a "could be real life situation". I scored a 92 on the first test (most people scored in the mid 70's) and a 96 on the second test (highest grade in the class when no one else cleared 90) This class totally solidified what I want to do with my life. I apparently have the right way of thinking, and I like to argue (although most attorney's don't do that anyways). If I score well on the final I will finish thatclass with the highest grade in the class! It's a super hard class so I'm very excited to be able to say that!
I also took an Abnormal Psychology class, this class was definitely interesting. It was not at all what I expected. We visited a lot of places around town where the people who resided or worked there had certain diseases or mental illnesses. This was also my first psychology class since general ed classes, so it was a tough class for me. I scored very well in the class and finished with an A. He gave us a print out of all of our scores and he said I was missing an assignment that I know I turned in, so I went in to argue him about it. It was only worth 10 points and I already had an A, so the professor looked at me like I was stupid. But I worked hard for my grades, and I like them to be a good reflection of the work I did that semester.
Either way, I did better than expected this semester, we'll have to see how next semester plays out with the baby and everything, but it is my last semester and I will not just slough off... I have worked too hard and too many people have made too many sacrifices for that. I feel good after doing such a good job and I know it makes my parents and my husband super proud and for once, I'm proud of myself and what more do I need?
My criminal procedure class is the second class I took from Professor Admire. This has been my favorite class of all time! It is pretty much "who does what and why"... I LOVED it. Every day I was like a kid in a candy store, just soaking up useful information. But yet again, it was NOT an easy class. Admire doesn't teach in the "traditional" format... he expects you to read the assigned chapters before coming to class and come to class and know the material and be able to discuss it. we went over specific supreme court cases and how they have shaped and changed the laws into what we know now. I know all sorts of random details about the law now. Admire also doesn't test in a typical format... there is no true/false, multiple choice here. It was more like "here is the situation... so and so did this and the cops did this... argue from the defense attorney's side and the prosecutor's side" It was applying what you had learned and making it work it a "could be real life situation". I scored a 92 on the first test (most people scored in the mid 70's) and a 96 on the second test (highest grade in the class when no one else cleared 90) This class totally solidified what I want to do with my life. I apparently have the right way of thinking, and I like to argue (although most attorney's don't do that anyways). If I score well on the final I will finish thatclass with the highest grade in the class! It's a super hard class so I'm very excited to be able to say that!
I also took an Abnormal Psychology class, this class was definitely interesting. It was not at all what I expected. We visited a lot of places around town where the people who resided or worked there had certain diseases or mental illnesses. This was also my first psychology class since general ed classes, so it was a tough class for me. I scored very well in the class and finished with an A. He gave us a print out of all of our scores and he said I was missing an assignment that I know I turned in, so I went in to argue him about it. It was only worth 10 points and I already had an A, so the professor looked at me like I was stupid. But I worked hard for my grades, and I like them to be a good reflection of the work I did that semester.
Either way, I did better than expected this semester, we'll have to see how next semester plays out with the baby and everything, but it is my last semester and I will not just slough off... I have worked too hard and too many people have made too many sacrifices for that. I feel good after doing such a good job and I know it makes my parents and my husband super proud and for once, I'm proud of myself and what more do I need?
Friday, December 4, 2009
Busy Busy Bees
Kyle and I have been so busy and I am only finding time to do this because I am at work, it's 5 am and I'm totally slacking on doing my homework :) The semester is finally over! Thank goodness. This semester has been way stressful! Kyle passed his EMT class and is now certified! Way to go Kyle! I am so proud of him. He is a lot smarter than he gives himself credit for.
We are almost 29 weeks! What a long haul! I officially look pregnant and am just tired all the time. My body hurts and I complain a lot! I haven't taken a recent picture and probably won't until we see the dr on the 14th, but this is 26 1/2 weeks. I only took this picture because my sister was getting feisty about not having a recent picture of my chubby belly :)
My birthday was on the 23rd and it was way low key... Kyle worked all day and I did homework. He did spoil me in the morning, which was nice and then we did what we needed to do the rest of the day. He is taking me to see New Moon, but considering how much the first one sucked, no matter what anyone says, I'm just not excited about seeing this one.
For THanksgiving we went down to Vegas. I was so excited to not be cold for a few days and Vegas did not disappoint. It was absolutely beautiful! Kyle got to do a ride along on Friday with the Las Vegas Fire and Rescue. He has been talking about it ever since. I am so proud of what he is doing. My mom finished the blanket Kyle picked out for our little boy. I don't sew, and since it was fleece (which stretches every which way) it wasn't a good learning opportunity. And then the scissors that my mom has are only right handed, so I was unable to finish off the edges as well... oh the joys of being left handed! ON Saturday we got up early and drove out to Panaca to spend the day with Kyle's family. It was seriously cold there! We took some family pictures (I don't have any yet) and I wasn't feeling very good so I took a nap while Kyle did whatever it was he did. Then we drove home to Cedar. I had missed my own bed long enough! On Sunday, Jimmy and Briget blessed their little boy Parker, it was a good day.
I have been somewhat down lately, for no reason in particular. While we were in Vegas, my dad let us borrow one of his extra Christmas trees and Kyle and I put it up. It was a fun experience for me. I LOVE having it up. Makes me feel like I'm at home.
Kyle putting on the finishing touches
I love our nontraditional tree... although I'm sure Kyle is sick of hearing me yell "Christmas tree!"
It snowed a few weeks ago and since I am hoping this is our last winter here in Cedar, we drove up the canyon to get some pictures of just me and kyle in the snow. This is the only one I like, but I love it. I am so excited about spending my first Christmas with my husband!
We are almost 29 weeks! What a long haul! I officially look pregnant and am just tired all the time. My body hurts and I complain a lot! I haven't taken a recent picture and probably won't until we see the dr on the 14th, but this is 26 1/2 weeks. I only took this picture because my sister was getting feisty about not having a recent picture of my chubby belly :)
My birthday was on the 23rd and it was way low key... Kyle worked all day and I did homework. He did spoil me in the morning, which was nice and then we did what we needed to do the rest of the day. He is taking me to see New Moon, but considering how much the first one sucked, no matter what anyone says, I'm just not excited about seeing this one.
For THanksgiving we went down to Vegas. I was so excited to not be cold for a few days and Vegas did not disappoint. It was absolutely beautiful! Kyle got to do a ride along on Friday with the Las Vegas Fire and Rescue. He has been talking about it ever since. I am so proud of what he is doing. My mom finished the blanket Kyle picked out for our little boy. I don't sew, and since it was fleece (which stretches every which way) it wasn't a good learning opportunity. And then the scissors that my mom has are only right handed, so I was unable to finish off the edges as well... oh the joys of being left handed! ON Saturday we got up early and drove out to Panaca to spend the day with Kyle's family. It was seriously cold there! We took some family pictures (I don't have any yet) and I wasn't feeling very good so I took a nap while Kyle did whatever it was he did. Then we drove home to Cedar. I had missed my own bed long enough! On Sunday, Jimmy and Briget blessed their little boy Parker, it was a good day.
I have been somewhat down lately, for no reason in particular. While we were in Vegas, my dad let us borrow one of his extra Christmas trees and Kyle and I put it up. It was a fun experience for me. I LOVE having it up. Makes me feel like I'm at home.
Kyle putting on the finishing touches
I love our nontraditional tree... although I'm sure Kyle is sick of hearing me yell "Christmas tree!"It snowed a few weeks ago and since I am hoping this is our last winter here in Cedar, we drove up the canyon to get some pictures of just me and kyle in the snow. This is the only one I like, but I love it. I am so excited about spending my first Christmas with my husband!
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